(Part of) Heaven on Earth: Srinagar

Well, I must say first that I have not thought even in my dream that I’ll write about my most favourite Indian Travel Destination so soon here. But since I have decided to write about Kashmir, I will write on that… Again even in this post, I’ll write only about Kashmir, i.e. Srinagar, places near Srinagar (Gulmarg, Sonmarg) & Pehlgam.
To begin with, I must take you to Srinagar. As we know (since our 5th grade) that Srinagar is summer capital of Jammu & Kashmir (sorry, I don’t want to torture you people wid starting this Geography class…: P). Since it’s in more hilly area than Jammu. But all these tuitions apart (:D), Srinagar is an amazing place to visit. Actually the road between Jammu & Srinagar, that is NH1, is a wonderful road due to the natural scenery this area has.
Now, once u enter in Srinagar, at first place u will find it as just one more usual town with markets & tourist place…but wait, you r wrong, wait for Dal Lake before u reach to any conclusion. & I’m damn sure that u r going to fall in love with this place if u r a true nature lover (& even if u r not, u will start liking it). The best thing to enjoy this ‘beauty’ (believe me by using this word I am under estimating the scenario I have seen) is to stay in a House Boat (I suggest u must stay in house boat). It’s really a great experience.
While u r in House Boat, u’ll find as if u r living in some normal town on land, as every morning all kind of vendors come to sell their stuffs in their ‘Shikara’(a type of boat), right from flowers to saffron (specialty of Kashmir) to typical Kashmiri Jewelry. These Shikaras r also used as transportation mode in the Lake.
At this point I must share an experience of the lake with u. One day when we came back from ‘sight-seeing’, suddenly rain started with extreme wind storm. We had stayed in House Boat, so we have to cross the lake to reach there. We hired Shikaras (we were 8 persons) & the rowers of shikaras took us from a longer way, taking care of shikaras as well as the passengers at the same time & when we reached our boat the storm became so heavy that they didn’t even wait for their fare & left back to the bank. & then the whole night we felt as if we r in the middle of sea (I mean to say that the storm had caused waves even in lake).
Hmmm….so now recalling my best experience of this houseboat is watching rising sun from mountain peaks of Himalaya at 5.30 am (first time in life I had got up to see this scene, this early without any kind of arguments or showing any kind of laziness :D).
In proper Srinagar, I say u must visit Temple of Shankaracharya , it’s though on height & even after u take a ride in ur cab/car till it’s base you have to climb up around 200 steps but it’s worth going till the top. Since Srinagar is famous for its gardens, do visit Nishant Baugh & Shalimar Baugh, both of them are a must see. We had gone there in summer but as I have seen on various TV Channels & websites, at the time of autumn, when the gardens have been reopened after 3-4 months of extreme winter, they look most incredible place on this earth.
Well this is just a small try to give u a glimpse of Kashmir & specially Srinagar. The journey is not ended here, still long way to go. If u really want to enjoy the beauty of nature… I advise that please go to Srinagar from Jammu by road. Here when u enter into valley through Nehru tunnel, after spending almost 4-5 minutes in this tunnel, when u come to the end of the tunnel I bet u’ll get most amazing view in front of u. The other reason for this recommendation is on the way to Srinagar from Patnitop u’ll come across many typical ‘Dhaba’ ,here do taste ‘Rajama Chawal’ with their special ‘Sukhe Anar ki chatani’… ;)

More on heaven on the earth is coming soon…..